Notes 
Ghost: A popular and modern publishing platform
Reviewed by Gabriel Bachmann
Ghost
ghost.org 1 rating so far*
Rate Ghost: No account needed
Threat level
Hardened
A hardened pick. Worth the effort once you have chosen to shrink your footprint on purpose. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
Modern, fast, and built around the thing it’s good at: independent publishing with native newsletters and paid memberships, which is why creators who want to own their audience gravitate to it. The catch is self-hosting Ghost is more involved than a flat-file blog, so many end up on the paid managed service. If a newsletter-and-subscription business is your aim, it’s purpose-built for that. For a tiny static personal blog, it’s more machinery than you need.
GitHub at a glance
TryGhost/Ghost MIT bloggingcmsghostjavascriptjournalismnodejspublishingweb-application
Stars
55,665
+39 this week
Forks
12,105
1,007 watching
Last commit
today
healthy
Latest release
v6.74.0
today, 100+ total
Star history
Issues
100% closed
30
open
7,337
closed
+26 / -34
opened / closed, last 4 weeks
Opened vs closed, last 12 weeks
Commits, last 26 weeks
4,664 commits, active 26 of 26 weeks
369 contributors since May 2013
Languages
- TypeScript 63.5%
- JavaScript 34.2%
- Handlebars 0.8%
- Other 1.5%
Updated daily from the GitHub API. Star tracking since Jun 10, 2026.
Website at a glance
ghost.org
B score 70
Solid website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 4d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Ghost alternatives
Ghost license, in plain English
MIT Permissive
Do almost anything: use, change, and ship it, even inside closed-source products. The only condition is keeping the copyright notice.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Private use
Requires
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: Permissive licensing lets anyone reuse this, including inside closed products. That is freedom to build on, but no guarantee that downstream copies stay open.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.
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